Via the AV Club, we have a full reveal of a previously hinted at new IDW Publishing series - just not quite this way. We knew that Visionaries was coming back to the Hasbro Universe at the end of First Strike ( see here ), and we know have a look at how the actual series will be called and what it will look like: presenting... Transformers vs Visionaries!

Written by Magdalene Visaggio, art by regular Fico Ossio, the series will feature a new spin on the 80s property and include the Transformers to piggy back into the mainstream (take that, Crown Jewel). Check out below covers (by Andrew Griffith, Ossio and Angel Hernandez) to the first issue and some character designs - and make sure to head to our database page for more information as it comes out!

The Hollywood bump is all it takes to pull a property out of obscurity, and IDW is showing what an updated Visionaries might look like by bringing it back in comics. December’s Visionaries Vs. Transformers pits a forgotten property against one of the world’s biggest, and IDW is making a smart move introducing this new version of Visionaries by attaching it to a far more popular franchise.

Even smarter is teaming Magdalene Visaggio, writer of the Eisner Award-nominated Kim & Kim, with artist Fico Ossio to put their own fresh spin on the characters as they introduce them on the Transformers’ home planet of Cybertron. “”As someone who grew up on a host of Hasbro/Sunbow animated shows, I’m very excited to help revive Visionaries for modern audiences,” says Visaggio. We’ve worked hard to keep it fresh enough for new readers, but faithful enough to the source material for old fans. It has all the same scheming wizards, dastardly villains, and flawed heroes of the original, but with a stunning new twist.” Ossio adds: “I’m very excited to be working on Visionaries and teaming up with Mags and [editor] Sarah [Gaydos]! Happy to be able to update them for a new generation! Mags’ script is really great and I can’t wait to have them stand against the Transformers.”

I do not connect the covers to the series, to be honest, especially for something that is about to launch from practically nothing.

We've seen the current crossovers (Rom vs TF, First Strike) pit side against side without actually sustaining any level of enmity between the two initial factions, so I have a feeling this may be similar in that regard.

As for Ironhide on the cover... I really have no idea why he's been chosen as the sacrifice for the success of the series. But I really like Visaggio's writing, and I am incredibly excited to read the book, even with some misgivings about Ossio's consistency on visuals!

ive liked visionaires in the past in both comic and cartoon form (Twas a back up strip in the UK TF comic IIRC after its own comic got cancelled there) and i always thought there was a kernel of a great idea in it that could be updated for today.

TBH Though Rom would seem the closer fit, what with the whole "dire wraiths magic " thing.

it doesnt seem to have an organic fit for TF.

i mean technicallly speaking transformers should drop dead on the visionaries homeworld thanks to the whole "anti science" effect so all they really have to do is bugger off back there and laugh at anyone that follows them there from cybertron.

fingers crossed they have a good idea, the last thing we need is another "avengers/TF" Crossover that made no bloody sense at all But marketing decreed it happen.

and ive seen enough comics in my life to not buy that "ironhide dies" angle.

Motto:"There are no impossibilities in the multiverse, just small minds unable to comprehend the possibilities"

Weapon: Star Saber Sword

Pretty much like the rest of the shared universe, I have no connection/knowledge of visionaries, and I don't really care. I am getting tired of everything being in transformers and us getting repeated crossovers to jump start new or failing brands. And come on, beating up on Ironhide like that is just rude.

No interest in the series at all. Getting really comic booked out lately thanks to repeated confusing crossovers and other rubbish coming into the transformers series I have loved the past several years

Well, as the resident Hasbro Universe fan, I can't wait! I've read Visaggio's work and she is a brilliant writer. Fico Ossio is a fantastic artist and his redesigned Spectral Knight and Darkling Lords are things of pure beauty. What works about this crossover is the same thing that works in First Strike. We have both heroes and villains from the other franchise. Yes, there will be some level of conflict in the beginning, but after that the good guys will team up to fight the bad guys.

On the subject of Ironhide: Chill. He might get injured or captured in the first issue, but they're not gonna kill him.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Pretty much like the rest of the shared universe, I have no connection/knowledge of visionaries, and I don't really care. I am getting tired of everything being in transformers and us getting repeated crossovers to jump start new or failing brands. And come on, beating up on Ironhide like that is just rude.

No interest in the series at all. Getting really comic booked out lately thanks to repeated confusing crossovers and other rubbish coming into the transformers series I have loved the past several years

...Y'know, I could say something about how this "chocolate in my peanut butter" attitude is nonsense, or how these crossovers have resulted in me discovering cool franchises I wouldn't have otherwise. I could point out that you don't have to buy or read any of the crossovers, or even address how your comment about "new or failing brands" is incredibly insulting to people who are longtime fans of some of those other franchises (like me).

But my time is probably better spent doing literally anything else, so I won't.

Motto:"There are no impossibilities in the multiverse, just small minds unable to comprehend the possibilities"

Weapon: Star Saber Sword

Daniel Adkins wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Pretty much like the rest of the shared universe, I have no connection/knowledge of visionaries, and I don't really care. I am getting tired of everything being in transformers and us getting repeated crossovers to jump start new or failing brands. And come on, beating up on Ironhide like that is just rude.

No interest in the series at all. Getting really comic booked out lately thanks to repeated confusing crossovers and other rubbish coming into the transformers series I have loved the past several years

...Y'know, I could say something about how this "chocolate in my peanut butter" attitude is nonsense

Now hold on a second! Chocolate and peanut butter are a great combination. i contest that saying (unless I misinterpreted)

Daniel Adkins wrote:or how these crossovers have resulted in me discovering cool franchises I wouldn't have otherwise. I could point out that you don't have to buy or read any of the crossovers, or even address how your comment about "new or failing brands" is incredibly insulting to people who are longtime fans of some of those other franchises (like me).

But my time is probably better spent doing literally anything else, so I won't.

I still try to keep up what is happening with the transformers that are in those comics, but it makes it difficult. And many of the ones that got jump started just haven't panned out that well, and it sucks that there were jump on points for them and then they haven't had the chance to go anywhere.

I don't want that to sound insulting, believe me I will not judge someone based on what you like to read and do etc (unless you like Tom Brady or listen to Justin Bieber, that is a bit difficult), it's just that everything is using the transformers to start off, and it's just not working out too well.

Now mind you ROM vs TF. is one where things finally went right. It is an enjoyable read, and one where I will pick up the TPB. It's just.. pretty much the only one that did it for me.

Motto:"Don't forget to subscribe to the official Doctor Who youtube channel"

Weapon: Temperature Variant H20 Gun

The problem for me pretty much is that if you want to follow the Transformers comics, then yes, you absolutely do have to read the crossovers. They contain incredibly important plot, world and character developments which means you miss out on a major part of the story if you skip over them. Though even then, I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't on such a constant basis. If they were a bit more spread out and not happening yearly - with smaller crossovers happening in between, no less! - and had a bit more time to develop before getting the occasional crossover every once in a while, it'd be so much better.

Either way, I'm gonna try and not let this affect how I view the Visionaries series myself. It's looking like a great creative team on the book, and it's certainly not their fault that they're having to springboard off of yet another crossover. I'm gonna give it a chance like anything else, and hope it's on the Action Man/Micronauts/Revolutionaries side of quality rather than the GI Joe/Mask side.

Complete and utter IDW DOOP-onwards Transformers fangirl. Also loves Beast Wars, Animated, TFP and that one TFCC story that made Alpha Bravo and Offroad great

Kurona wrote:The problem for me pretty much is that if you want to follow the Transformers comics, then yes, you absolutely do have to read the crossovers. They contain incredibly important plot, world and character developments which means you miss out on a major part of the story if you skip over them.

Maybe this is just me as a long-time comics reader, but I disagree with this idea. Even just looking at, say, exRID to Optimus Prime. You can go from exRID #57 to OP #1 and the only thing that you might wonder about is how Mainframe knows Soundwave. Hardly an important plot detail. Plus, we live in the digital age, where anyone can go to a Wiki page or forum and find out what they missed if they really feel they need to. As for the other books? TAAO was completely unaffected by Revolution. MTMTE/LL (with the exception of Dark Cybertron) ignores everything. Heck, ROM Vs. TF is completely separate from anything, taking place 200 years in the past. Even for OP, they're keeping that series going through the events of First Strike.

Honestly, the only books that are seriously affected by crossovers are all the NON Transformers books. ROM #5? Opens with a page of Rom leaving Autobot City. Micronauts #7? The Micronauts are captured after the fight with Karza. M.A.S.K. spun out of Revolution. G.I. Joe now has Skywarp and Dire Wraiths running around. But the Transformers books? At best you could argue they have some military guys that aren't our previous military guys.

Kurona wrote:The problem for me pretty much is that if you want to follow the Transformers comics, then yes, you absolutely do have to read the crossovers. They contain incredibly important plot, world and character developments which means you miss out on a major part of the story if you skip over them.

Maybe this is just me as a long-time comics reader, but I disagree with this idea. Even just looking at, say, exRID to Optimus Prime. You can go from exRID #57 to OP #1 and the only thing that you might wonder about is how Mainframe knows Soundwave. Hardly an important plot detail. Plus, we live in the digital age, where anyone can go to a Wiki page or forum and find out what they missed if they really feel they need to. As for the other books? TAAO was completely unaffected by Revolution. MTMTE/LL (with the exception of Dark Cybertron) ignores everything. Heck, ROM Vs. TF is completely separate from anything, taking place 200 years in the past. Even for OP, they're keeping that series going through the events of First Strike.

Honestly, the only books that are seriously affected by crossovers are all the NON Transformers books. ROM #5? Opens with a page of Rom leaving Autobot City. Micronauts #7? The Micronauts are captured after the fight with Karza. M.A.S.K. spun out of Revolution. G.I. Joe now has Skywarp and Dire Wraiths running around. But the Transformers books? At best you could argue they have some military guys that aren't our previous military guys.

I'll disagree slightly with TAAO and revolution since Windblade was some pretty significant things happen to her since she was hanging around for most of that series. I think the problem is more that if you want to follow all the exploits of your favorite transforming alien robots, then you have to pick up these other things that you wouldn't be interested in otherwise. If you like Skywarp, then you better get used to a bunch a squishy humans too. If you like Kup, I hope you can figure out whatever is going on in Revolutionaries (I guess they've been chasing the same artifact for the last six issues? What does Dr. X even want? What do any of the villains want besides "kill all robots?").

The other issue I find with these crossovers is that they make the chronology and placing of these characters more confusing and implausible. For instance, why is no other book talking about the time Baron Karza almost took over the world? Why is Rom the only one that cares about every major government institution being infiltrated by body snatchers, especially when all it takes is a dog to sort out who's a human and who isn't? Why wasn't Optimus Prime involved when a group of undead titans ravaged Cybertron?

Granted, we're a far cry from what goes on with Marvel and what goes on every time they have a crossover. I recently got into Deadpool and the Mercs for money and was incredibly frustrated when the plot was put on hold for X-Men vs Inhumans, where suddenly the book jumped into the middle of a plot I didn't understand. Then, immediately afterward, the book transitioned into another Deadpool crossover with Spider-Man, Till Death Do Us, where the book was suddenly in the middle of events where Shiklah is taking over New York.

Enough with the crossovers already. Is IDW ever gonna focus on their declining quality of Transformers books? Having them be involved in another universe is not a bad thing, but first how about they get the Transformers stories organized? How nice were the days when we had LL and RiD and nothing else... Maybe a 4 or 6 issue miniseries here or there. The IDW Transformers universe is getting way too cluttered. They could have waited a while after First Strike to get involved with another property again. Seems to me that any time Transformers gets mixed up with someone else, the TF stories only suffer in the long run. Enough. Concentrate on elevating the quality of LL first.

Yes, I'm aware that not the same creative team is responsible for both. But IDW has to approve everything before it ever goes to print.

Selling my Studio Series Bumblebee.PM me if interested.

Burn wrote:Alpha Bravo...He's a helicopter in a team of jets. That's just dumb.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Enough with the crossovers already. Is IDW ever gonna focus on their declining quality of Transformers books? Having them be involved in another universe is not a bad thing

I think this is what D-Max and others have been trying to say. We've given this all a chance and are open to these other franchises. If the output isn't as good as what we were getting, which it is not, then negative reactions are going to occur.

And really, what marketing genius said "hey, let's reintroduce this dead franchise by attaching it to Transformers and then immediately imply that they'll kill one of the most well defined and popular characters from our run with the license"?

All we want are good stories. The material so far shown for this does not give me hope that this will happen.

I hope to be, and can't wait for me to be so totally wrong about this.

What is the actual decline in quality you guys keep referencing? Because I've yet to see anyone in this thread make a complaint about an actual Transformers book that doesn't boil down to just "things that aren't robots are dumb."

I find Optimus Prime to be as enjoyable as RID ever was. TAAO was a fantastic series that I wish more people had bought so that it could continue to happen. Lost Light sadly continues the spiral downward from MTMTE, but that began back in MTMTE Season 2. But, I still find it okay and am willing to pick it up and hope Roberts can recover. Revolutionaries has been a fun ride from beginning to end that delves into the deepest lore in this universe and revisits concepts that I never expected to see again. ROM Vs. Transformers is incredible and I dare say will be remembered as one of the definitive stand-alone Transformers stories, right up there with LSOTW.

Daniel Adkins wrote:What is the actual decline in quality you guys keep referencing? Because I've yet to see anyone in this thread make a complaint about an actual Transformers book that doesn't boil down to just "things that aren't robots are dumb."

I find Optimus Prime to be as enjoyable as RID ever was. TAAO was a fantastic series that I wish more people had bought so that it could continue to happen. Lost Light sadly continues the spiral downward from MTMTE, but that began back in MTMTE Season 2. But, I still find it okay and am willing to pick it up and hope Roberts can recover. Revolutionaries has been a fun ride from beginning to end that delves into the deepest lore in this universe and revisits concepts that I never expected to see again. ROM Vs. Transformers is incredible and I dare say will be remembered as one of the definitive stand-alone Transformers stories, right up there with LSOTW.

So please, tell me. What am I missing here?

You mention the decline in story from MTMTE and Lost Light, and some people are definitely referring to that. It being 'okay' after a long run of it being 'very good' has definitely put people off. (It's frustrating on both sides of the argument, I know.)

Optimus Prime is probably - to me at least - better than xRID, maybe on par with the initial arcs (was not a fan of Megatron's return). Agreed on TAAO.

Rom vs Transformers has had two issues so far, so I'm reserving judgement, but the second has not lived up to the first for the readers on staff, effectively just restating what the first issue had set down, and sending Stardrive to background character status after one issue. That may pick up again in issue 3, but so far it's just a bit ..whelming, after the promise of the start.

Revolutionaries had ups and downs, with some highlights, and was completely truncated by the entire end-plot revealed in the solicits and scheduling issues. Editorial control on the books is slipping a little, as they try resettling the whole team, and in my opinion, Transformers do not have the support or numbers that IDW thinks they have to be able to hold up every new franchise being introduced into the universe.

As someone suggested above, why not have Rom vs Visionaries instead? Or even Micronauts, which is a much better series in terms of visibility of its writer, and Karza being at the centre of at least three events now? Rom is being set up as a very enjoyable series overall (though someone needs to edit Ryall much better, and forget he's the boss at IDW when doing so), the Rom vs TF series is already providing the hook - just split it off from there, instead of using the 'remnants of TAAO' to do the groundwork.

I'm not as negative as other commenters on this issue, but I agree with the disgruntlement that some have about some of the quality in the output. My biggest issue, I'll admit, is the lack of proper scheduling, the amount of influe--- interference from Hasbro corporate, and the editorial dwindlings. The books are collateral damage of those three elements.

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